title: [Biological exposure-related injuries in workers in a health system of the health service of Galicia, Spain].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to describe the factors involved in biological exposure-related injuries occurring in worker from a health system in Galicia, Spain.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was conducted in a health system of the Health Service of Galicia, that included four hospitals and 72 primary care centers, with nearly 6000 workers. The study used occupational injury data available o in the injury registry of the Health Service of Galicia for the year 2011. We identified 194 biohazard-related injuries. Exposures, locations, devices, tasks and causes of these incidents were analysed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of biological exposures occurred through needlestick injuries (82%). The areas where more injuries occurred were in inpatient wards (37%) and operating rooms (25%). The devices most frequently involved were suture needles (15%) and insulin needles (15%). The most frequently recorded causes were lack of training and information, together with lack of biosafety devices.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Worker training and information should be promoted along with the implementation of biosafety devices, as the latter measure alone does not seem sufficient to reduce the number of injuries.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales del Área Sanitaria de Gestión Integrada de Santiago de Compostela del Servicio Gallego de Salud, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cores Calvo
authors.forename: José Ramón
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Muñiz Saborido
authors.forename: Marta Clara
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: González Iglesias
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D016602:Needlestick Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013030:Spain